Using Multi-Attribute Decision Analysis to Examine the Impact of Social Fitness of Shaded Public Space on Older Persons’ Depression

In the face of rapid aging, depression in later life has become a prominent issue in urban public health and environmental research. As potential places for social activities and emotional healing, the social stayability of shaded community spaces is an essential environmental factor influencing the mental well-being of the elderly. In order to overcome the challenge of depression relief in later life, it is important to investigate what attributes of social stayability in shaded spaces influence the mental well-being of the elderly, as well as their gap structures. This study innovatively develops a fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making method and builds an analytical framework combining Fuzzy-BWM and VIKOR to comprehensively evaluate three dimensions of physical accessibility, facilities, and spatial conditions, and environmental comfort and safety of shaded spaces. Using the Pioneer community in Panyu, Guangzhou, and the Yuehan community in Macau as empirical cases, this study integrates expert judgment and residents’ perception data to identify the key attributes and gap structure of shaded space stayability in mitigating depression-related psychological risk and promoting emotional restoration and psychological well-being among older adults. The results show that facilities and spatial conditions have the greatest impact on social stayability. The two attributes of sitting comfort and public service facilities are the dominant factors that affect stay intention and emotional recovery. Environmental comfort and safety have a secondary but stable supporting effect on psychological security. This study reveals the coupling relationship between functional configuration and perceptual experience and advocates for the transformation of urban renewal thinking from spatial optimization to psychological health promotion. This study’s results offer theoretical support and policy implications for building restorative, inclusive, and age-friendly cities. The findings provide a quantitative basis for decision making regarding sustainable community space governance and intervention prioritization.